


Eliwoods are not Pillows

by RedglareVantas (xanemarths)



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Rare Pairings, rare pair hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-30 11:15:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3934756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xanemarths/pseuds/RedglareVantas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are times Eliwood regrets his kindness and generosity. Letting that guy in a green hoodie use him as a pillow on the bus is certainly one of them.</p>
<p>Still, he's just a good person! He wants to help people. It's not like this stranger is cute or anything - wait what do you mean he's roommates with one of your best friends!?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eliwoods are not Pillows

**Author's Note:**

> Hello I'm Marth and after not publishing anything in months I return having fallen into Fire Emblem Hell and also Elimark hell.  
> Please save me from rarepair hell.
> 
> Based on an au prompt, "“idk you but you fell asleep on my shoulder on the bus and the only reason i’m letting you stay there is bc you look very comfy and i’m a good person - it’s totally not bc you’re also possibly the cutest and most precious human being i have ever seen hahah okay maybe a lil” au"

Eliwood liked to think himself a very tolerant and kind young man. The kind of young man to help out wherever he could, to always take the feelings of others into consideration. His friends teased him about this, gently at times, but the fact remained: Eliwood was, as he preferred to be called, a softie, or, as some other people put it, “a bit of a pushover”.

Which wasn’t true! He had morals, of course. There were certainly things that even the kindest, most patient man refused to do. However, very rarely had the situation come up where he absolutely refused to do something, and in the few times he did have to turn someone down - whether for his own health, mental or otherwise, or some other reason - he was always sure to apologize.

Still, at times, he couldn’t help but regret his kindness and generosity.

Now was one of those times.

He had boarded the afternoon bus with the intent of making it to see his friends, Hector and Lyn, and spend time with them that evening. Ordinarily he might have walked, but he had experienced a few delays in leaving, and the bus usually arrived quicker anyway. The bus was also one of the better modes of public transport offered by his city, so he thought it would be worth the small fee for the ride.

The bus wasn’t incredibly crowded - there was enough room left that most people could easily have one seat on either side of them and still all fit comfortably. So he thought nothing of it at first when he went to sit next to a young man in the middle of the bus.

Evidently this was also a very shy person; he jumped when Eliwood approached, pulling up the hood on his emerald jacket and seeming to hide behind it. Eliwood felt rather sorry for him; perhaps he should move elsewhere? But that might only embarrass the poor man more, to have been noticed…

In the end, he stayed there, and it wasn’t long after the bus started rolling again that the redhead realized what kind of hell had befallen him for staying.

Apparently the young man he had sat next to, besides being very shy, was also either very tired, or very easily lulled to sleep. As the bus started on towards the next bus stop, he gave a muffled yawn, and things only went downhill from there. A muffled yawn led to a slump, and the slump finally slid to the side as the bus turned a corner, and suddenly Eliwood found himself serving as a pillow for the young man.

Now, Eliwood was many things, but he was most certainly not a pillow, and he refused to become one unless it was for some close friend, or at least not an absolute stranger like the one on the bus. Offer a pillow or blanket? Sure, if he had one. Become the pillow? Certainly not!

But as he stared at this person, trying to work up the words to say why, exactly, he didn’t want to be their personal pillow, he found that he didn’t have the heart to say it. Whoever it was seemed very tired, especially if they were generally nervous but fell asleep on a total stranger anyway. As he watched, the other man buried his face against Eliwood’s arm, nuzzling slightly - oh god.

Yes, he was certainly very comfortable, and Eliwood was too good of a person to ask him to move. It had nothing to do with the fact that the nuzzling was slightly endearing. It certainly had even less to do with the fact that the man's hood had fallen back down as he had begun his nap, revealing light, mousy brown hair that certainly didn't look soft and messy and pettable to Eliwood, and a very soft face that was in absolutely no way cute or innocent or even slightly adorable.

As Eliwood remained frozen in position, lest even the tiniest movement rouse his sleeping companion, he felt one of their hands curl into his sleeve, clinging very tightly to the blue fabric.  
His mind dissolved into silent, wordless screaming, a valiant effort to not wake the other or alert the rest of the bus to his predicament. His stop could not come quickly enough - the sooner he got this precious cinnamon - er, other person - off of him, the better. He was just being polite. This guy certainly wasn't cute or anything.

Finally, the bus rolled to a halt at his stop, and as the name of his stop was announced over the speakers, he prepared to gently disentangle himself from the other, only to find that they were rousing themselves, sleepily blinking before flushing red. An apology was murmured, and he began to rush towards the door, quickly enough that Eliwood almost didn’t have the heart to mention that this was his stop as well. The other must’ve caught on, though, when he began to follow, and he halted, moving to the side in order to let Eliwood pass. For a moment, there was a silent politeness competition; Eliwood waved for the other man to continue while he kept gesturing for Eliwood to go first. Finally Eliwood gave in so as not to keep the bus driver waiting any longer than necessary, and he exited, the other, smaller man trailing after him like a duckling.

Not far from the bus stop stood Hector and Lyn; he had made sure to text them ahead of time so they would know when and how he'd be arriving. The bus stop wasn't actually that far from Lyn's apartment, and the only one who'd have to do any amount of extra traveling was poor Hector. As soon as they saw that he had disembarked, their faces lit up, and he heard them both calling his name, greeting him enthusiastically. 

It was only when he got somewhat closer to them that he saw Lyn's face light up even more, and heard a name that most certainly wasn't his own. "Mark!"

Behind him, Eliwood noticed the man from the bus jump, then smile, before racing over to his friend. "Lyndis!"

"...You... know him?" Eliwood asked, clearly puzzled; even Hector seemed surprised at the sudden development, which meant that at least he wasn't the only one in the dark. "Know him? We're roommates!" Lyn exclaimed, which seemed to be confirmed by enthusiastic nodding from Mark. "I was going to introduce you two to him, today, actually, though it seems you've already been acquainted with him, Eli."

The blushing and sputtering from both of them at once probably gave the others bad ideas, especially Hector, but it couldn't be helped. "Not really," Eliwood confessed as Mark shook his head. "He just. Fell asleep on me on the ride here."

Lyn nodded in understanding, though something in the smile twisting on her lips made Eliwood think it wasn't quite as understanding as he'd hope. "He seems to do that. I found him passed out on the bus, no idea what his original destination was meant to be and without a place to stay - so we came to a deal. I'd give him a place to sleep if he could earn his keep around the place, and he's pretty smart when it comes to college level homework."

There seemed to be something left out of this story, some minor detail she wasn’t telling Eliwood, some reason for why she seemed to be staring at him like that, eyes flickering between him and Mark. He would have confronted her on this, asked what exactly she was hiding from him, if Lyn hadn’t seemed to anticipate him doing just that. She turned from him, gesturing for the entire group to follow her; it was her night to pick where to go and what to do, after all. As she walked ahead, Lyn pulled Hector to walk next to her, and after a brief exchange of words whispered so low Eliwood had no hope of making them out, Hector looked back at his best friend, and _grinned_.

There was only one reason he could be grinning like that, and Eliwood knew it.

They were now attempting to set him up on a date.

Oh, yes, this was most certainly going to be one of the times he regretted being a model citizen, and he knew it.

Still, he couldn’t help but remember the way Mark had looked then, a tired stranger who had passed out from exhaustion, innocent and peaceful in his sleep. Which was absolutely not how it happened, and absolutely not the way he remembered or would remember things in the slightest.

Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad.


End file.
